That's my biggest reasoning...those are useless features that add to cost and battery lose. If I could get a camera that had no extras with the IQ of the D600 for the price of the D7100 (or even D5200) that would be awesome!

For about $100 you can buy a P&S with the usual exposure modes, autofocus (although not phase detect), video, 3 inch LCD, WiFi, etc. So the total cost of all those items has to be less than $100. They add little to the cost of a FF camera and make it appeal to a much larger market. Deleting them would be like asking the maker of a $35,000 car to make you a model without cruise control and power windows and only charge you $25,000.

If you turn the LCD off it consumes no power. Even if it did the battery on most SLRs lasts for close to 1000 shots and you can always carry a spare battery. They take up a lot less room than 30 rolls of film would have.

It makes a lot more sense for camera manufacturers to make a model with all the features and let those of you that do not need them ignore them. I personally have no use for video but having it in all my cameras does not hurt anything. I just disable or reprogram the record button so I do not accidentally press it and ignore everything video related.

And yet, what is wanted is a FF camera with the form factor of an old DSLR...the ability, obviously, to use good lenses, dials for easy/fast control....a point and shoot will not do any of those things..will it. Personally, what I want already exists in a Leica M9....but at $7000 and $1000 for the cheapest prime...it aint happening anytime soon.

That's the point - making low volume costs a lot - Leica isn't ripping you off, that's what it costs. Where they are fooling you is making you think that an M9 has the form factor of a pre-digital M - it doesn't, it's a lot thicker.